Metro Detroit web designer and mixed media artist. A blog about the license plate art and maps I create under the name Design Turnpike, and other things that interest me in and around The Great Lake State. Send me an email at designturnpike@gmail.com

Monday, November 19, 2012

Funny License Plate Story

License plates have been around for longer than there have been automobiles. They have been a source of interest and fun since the very first ones were issued. The following funny story really happened to a man named Robert Barbour...

He requested personalized license plates from the California DMV in 1979. The DMV form asked to list three possible choices for his plates, and he entered:

1. SAILING
2. BOATING
3. NO PLATE

The third "NO PLATE" option meant if he couldn't get the first or the second plate, then he didn't want personalized plates at all. However, officials at the DMV didn't understand his intentions, so they sent him vanity plates with the words "NO PLATE" written on them.

About a month later, Mr. Barbour started to receive loads of parking tickets, from all over the United States. Even from places he had never been to. In total, he received about 2,500 tickets.

He alerted the DMV about the problem, and he responded to every citation with a form letter. Why did this happen?

Apparently, law enforcement agencies usually used "NO PLATE" when citing a parked vehicle that had no plates. And, DMV computers had finally found a matching address for the car with the famous "NO PLATE" license plate!